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The founder of Pacific Lutheran University, Bjug Aanondson, was born on December 17, 1848 on a farm named Harstad in Valle, Setesdal, Norway to father Aanond Tellefson Aakre and mother Torbjør Kittilsdatter Harstad. He was one of ten children in the very poor family. Young Bjug took care of the cattle at the family farm called Gangshei above Harstad during the winter months and in the mountains during the summer months.

Bjug and his family emigrated to America in 1861 where they settled in Illinois and Minnesota. He continued his education in the US and was accepted as a student at Luther College in 1865 where he changed his last name to Harstad upon a suggestion of the president of the college. He studied theology at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis from 1871 to 1874. It was his experiences there that became the model for the rest of Bjug's scholarly and religious life. After seminary, he traveled as a pastor to remote places in Minnesota where he built schools and churches.

Bjug Harstad was married February 14, 1877 to Guro Omlid in Minnesota. She was a native of Valle and was born September 29, 1858. In 1889, the church sent Bjug Harstad to the Pacific Coast where he visited Portland, Seattle and Tacoma. He returned to Minnesota and it was decided that Brookdale (as Parkland was called then) should be the important Lutheran education center of the Northwest.

The Pacific Lutheran University Association was incorporated December 11, 1890 with Bjug Harstad as president. The cornerstone for the first building, Old Main, was laid October 4, 1891. The occasion of the cornerstone was a grand event photo of the event. Several Lutheran pastors spoke both in Norwegian and in English and the president of the Norwegian Synod sent greetings with his hope that the undertaking would succeed.

In 1917 the Norwegian Synod that Pacific Lutheran University was founded under, merged with the United Church and the Hauge Synod to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the Reformation. Harstad refused to join the new Norwegian Lutheran Church, thus formally separating himself from the school he had founded. Bjug Aanondson Harstad died on 20 June 1933 at age 84. His wife Guro, eight of his children, and eleven grandchildren survived him. Old Main was renamed Harstad Hall in 1960 in honor of Bjug Harstad. A granite monument in Valle Norway was dedicated to him on June 26, 1983.

Spokane College was incorporated in Spokane, Washington in August 1905, by representatives from various localities in Washington and the surrounding states. Until that time, there were no Prostestant affiliated colleges in the immediate area. In 1929, Spokane College closed and the records sent to Pacific Lutheran College.

Campus Photographer, Pacific Lutheran University, 2010-

Director of Photography Services, Pacific Lutheran University: 1995-2003

University Photographer, Pacific Lutheran University: 1966-1995

University Photographer, Pacific Lutheran University: 2002-2009

The Olsen family relocated from Detroit, Michigan to Tacoma, Washington in 1947. Dr. Robert Olsen joined the faculty of Pacific Lutheran College that year as a Professor of Chemistry and would continue in this role until 1976. He and wife Josephine ("Jo") Olsen and sons Richard ("Dick"), Robert Jr. ("Bob"), James ("Jim"), and Paul moved into a College-owned house located at 502 S. 124th Street. In Tacoma, the family expanded to include Ruth in 1951 and Timothy in 1953. Four members of the Olsen family are Pacific Lutheran University alumni: Dick Olsen (Class of 1959), Bob Jr. (Class of 1963), Jim Olsen (Class of 1963), and Paul Olsen (Class of 1967).

Address: 714 Market

Addresses: 901 Commerce, Rust Building, Townsend Building, Rust Building

Albert Henry Barnes was born in 1876. Well known as both a photographer and a oil painter, he documented images of the landscape, people, and cities and towns of Western Washington around the turn of the 20th century. However, little is known about his life. He apparently operated out of studios both in Parkland and Tacoma. His images appeared in some local newspapers from 1905-1915. He also wrote descriptive articles for photography magazines, railroad publications, and travel books. In 1909, he photographed, wrote and published a work entitled: Sights and scenes from Tacoma to Paradise Park: forty-eight views. In 1911, in collaboration with his friend A.H. Denman, he published his best-known work: "Our Greatest Mountain and Alpine Regions of Wonder". The work contained a number of Barnes landscape photographs, as well as a color reproduction of his painting entitled "Mount Tacoma". In addition to his publication work, he provided services for the Washington State Historical Society such as documenting commemorative services for some of the historical markers erected by the society. Among the photographs in this collection are images of unidentified homesteaders, early scenes in Mount Rainier National Park, the Columbia River Gorge, hotels and lodges in Western Washington, and scenes of Tacoma. He died in Tacoma in 1920.

Address: Bankers Trust Building